Adjusting the display of social media updates to varying degrees of richness based on environmental conditions and importance of the update

ABSTRACT

A method, system and computer program product for adjusting a display of social media updates to varying degrees of richness. A level of importance for each social media update is identified and assigned to the update. The importance of the social media update can be defined by various aspects, such as topics or people of interest to the user. Furthermore, a current condition of a user&#39;s environment (e.g., current workload of the user) is determined. The social media updates are then displayed in a social networking feed with a particular degree of richness at a particular location based on the level of importance of the social media updates, the current condition of the user&#39;s environment, and/or the user&#39;s interactions with existing updates currently displayed. In this manner, the amount of time required by the user to determine which updates are important to the user is reduced.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/740,565, which was filed on Jan. 14,2013, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Thepresent application claims priority benefits to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/740,565.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to social network services, andmore particularly to adjusting the display of social media updates tovarying degrees of richness based on environmental conditions andimportance of the update.

BACKGROUND

A social network service is an online service, platform or site thatfocuses on building and reflecting of social networks or socialrelations among people (e.g., those who share interests and/oractivities). A social network service essentially consists of arepresentation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, anda variety of additional services. Most social network services are webbased and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such asby e-mail and instant messaging. Social networking sites allow users toshare ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individualnetworks.

Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook®) present to a particular userthe posts and stories by other users in a social networking feed(referred to as a “news feed”). New postings or updates from friends andpages followed by the user (including photo tags, event updates, groupmemberships and other activity) will be reflected in the news feed. If anews feed contains multiple updates, it is likely that the relativeimportance of each update differs to the user, depending on the topic,associated people, etc. However, if all the updates are displayed to theuser with the same level of richness (referring to the amount of detail,visual display size, etc.), then the user has to spend a great deal oftime in reviewing the updates to determine which of the updates areimportant to the user and to process the information of value.

Currently, social collaboration tools attempt to manage attention andvolume of the postings in the news feed by “rolling up” similar posts orstories into a summarized update (e.g., “ten people liked a file”)rather than providing a unique entry for each update. However, thesummarized update may involve summarizing a high volume of unrelatedcontent updates which may not have a common basis for rolling up.Furthermore, users may desire to see the update entry, especially if theupdate is important to the user.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for adjusting adisplay of social media updates to varying degrees of richness comprisesreceiving a social media update. The method further comprisesidentifying a level of importance of the social media update.Additionally, the method comprises determining a current condition of auser's environment. In addition, the method comprises displaying, by aprocessor, the social media update in a social networking feed with aparticular degree of richness at a particular location based on theidentified level of importance of the social media update and/or thecurrent condition of the user's environment.

Other forms of the embodiment of the method described above are in asystem and in a computer program product.

The foregoing has outlined rather generally the features and technicaladvantages of one or more embodiments of the present invention in orderthat the detailed description of the present invention that follows maybe better understood. Additional features and advantages of the presentinvention will be described hereinafter which may form the subject ofthe claims of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained when thefollowing detailed description is considered in conjunction with thefollowing drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a social network system configured in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware configuration of a news feed displaymechanism configured in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the software components used in adjusting the displayof social media updates to varying degrees of richness based on thelevel of importance of the social media update and/or the currentcondition of the user's environment in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for adjusting the display of socialmedia updates to varying degrees of richness based on the level ofimportance of the social media update and/or the current condition ofthe user's environment in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a display of a social media update in a socialnetworking feed with a high degree of richness in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a display of a social media update in a socialnetworking feed with a low degree of richness in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a display of a social media update in a socialnetworking feed where the size and location of particular items withinthe social media update vary according to their relative importance inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention comprises a method, system and computer programproduct for adjusting a display of social media updates to varyingdegrees of richness. In one embodiment of the present invention, a levelof importance for a social media update is identified and assigned tothe social media update. The importance of the social media update canbe defined by various aspects, such as topics or people of interest tothe user, the user's work assignments, topics related to what the userhas already read, etc. Furthermore, a current condition of a user'senvironment is determined. For example, the current condition of theuser's environment may include a volume of other updates received over atime frame, a current workload of the user, a current time or day, etc.The social media update is then displayed in a social networking feed ata particular location with a particular degree of richness based on thelevel of importance of the social media update and/or the currentcondition of the user's environment. In this manner, the amount of timerequired by the user to determine which updates are important to theuser is reduced.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present inventionmay be practiced without such specific details. In other instances,well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order notto obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the mostpart, details considering timing considerations and the like have beenomitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a completeunderstanding of the present invention and are within the skills ofpersons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

Referring now to the Figures in detail, FIG. 1 illustrates a socialnetwork system 100 configured in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 1, social network system 100includes a community of users using client devices 101A-101C (identifiedas “Client Device A,” “Client Device B,” and “Client Device C,”respectively, in FIG. 1) to be involved in social network system 100.Client devices 101A-101C may collectively or individually be referred toas client devices 101 or client device 101, respectively. Client device101 may be a portable computing unit, a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a smartphone, a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a navigationdevice, a game console, a desktop computer system, a workstation, anInternet appliance and the like.

Client devices 101 may participate in a social network by communicating(by wire or wirelessly) over a network 102, which may be, for example, alocal area network, a wide area network, a wireless wide area network, acircuit-switched telephone network, a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) network, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)network, a WiFi network, an IEEE 802.11 standards network, variouscombinations thereof, etc. Other networks, whose descriptions areomitted here for brevity, may also be used in conjunction with system100 of FIG. 1 without departing from the scope of the present invention.

System 100 further includes a social network server 103, which may be aweb server configured to offer a social networking and/or microbloggingservice, enabling users of client devices 101 to send and read otherusers' posts. “Posts,” as used herein, include any one or more of thefollowing: text (e.g., comments, sub-comments and replies), audio, videoimages, etc. Social network server 103 is connected to network 102 bywire or wirelessly. While FIG. 1 illustrates a single social networkserver 103, it is noted for clarity that multiple servers may be used toimplement the social networking and/or microblogging service.

System 100 further includes a news feed display mechanism 104 connectedto network 102 by wire or wirelessly. News feed display mechanism 104 isconfigured to adjust the display of a social media update in a socialnetworking feed to a particular degree of richness (i.e., a level ofdetail) based on the level of importance of the social media updateand/or the current condition of the user's environment as discussed infurther detail below. A description of the hardware configuration ofnews feed display mechanism 104 is provided below in connection withFIG. 2.

System 100 is not to be limited in scope to any one particular networkarchitecture. System 100 may include any number of clients 101, networks102, social network servers 103 and news feed display mechanisms 104.Furthermore, in one embodiment, news feed display mechanism 104 may bepart of social network server 103.

Referring now to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware configuration ofa news feed display mechanism 104 (FIG. 1) which is representative of ahardware environment for practicing the present invention. Referring toFIG. 2, news feed display mechanism 104 has a processor 201 coupled tovarious other components by system bus 202. An operating system 203 runson processor 201 and provides control and coordinates the functions ofthe various components of FIG. 2. An application 204 in accordance withthe principles of the present invention runs in conjunction withoperating system 203 and provides calls to operating system 203 wherethe calls implement the various functions or services to be performed byapplication 204. Application 204 may include, for example, a program foradjusting the display of a social media update in a social networkingfeed to a particular degree of richness based on the level of importanceof the social media update and/or the current condition of the user'senvironment, as discussed further below in association with FIGS. 3-7.

Referring again to FIG. 2, read-only memory (“ROM”) 205 is coupled tosystem bus 202 and includes a basic input/output system (“BIOS”) thatcontrols certain basic functions of news feed display mechanism 104.Random access memory (“RAM”) 206 and disk adapter 207 are also coupledto system bus 202. It should be noted that software components includingoperating system 203 and application 204 may be loaded into RAM 206,which may be news feed display mechanism's 104 main memory forexecution. Disk adapter 207 may be an integrated drive electronics(“IDE”) adapter that communicates with a disk unit 208, e.g., diskdrive. It is noted that the program for adjusting the display of asocial media update in a social networking feed to a particular degreeof richness based on the level of importance of the social media updateand/or the current condition of the user's environment, as discussedfurther below in association with FIGS. 3-7, may reside in disk unit 208or in application 204.

News feed display mechanism 104 may further include a communicationsadapter 209 coupled to bus 202. Communications adapter 209 interconnectsbus 202 with an outside network (e.g., network 102 of FIG. 1) therebyallowing news feed display mechanism 104 to communicate with clientdevices 101 and social network server 103.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” ‘module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, amagnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium maybe any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use byor in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the C programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thepresent invention. It will be understood that each block of theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to product a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing thefunction/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the function/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

As stated in the Background section, social networking sites (e.g.,Facebook®) present to a particular user the posts and stories by otherusers in a social networking feed (referred to as a “news feed”). Newpostings or updates from friends and pages followed by the user(including photo tags, event updates, group memberships and otheractivity) will be reflected in the news feed. If a news feed containsmultiple updates, it is likely that the relative importance of eachupdate differs to the user, depending on the topic, associated people,etc. However, if all the updates are displayed to the user with the samelevel of richness (referring to the amount of detail, visual displaysize, etc.), then the user has to spend a great deal of time inreviewing the updates to determine which of the updates are important tothe user. Currently, social collaboration tools attempt to manageattention and volume of the postings in the news feed by “rolling up”similar posts or stories into a summarized update (e.g., “ten peopleliked a file”) rather than providing a unique entry for each update.However, the summarized update may involve summarizing a high volume ofunrelated content updates which may not have a common basis for rollingup. Furthermore, users may desire to see the update entry, especially ifthe update is important to the user.

The principles of the present invention provide a means for displayingeach social media update entry (e.g., news update entry) in a socialnetworking feed with a particular degree of richness based on the levelof importance of the social media update and/or the current condition ofthe user's environment thereby reducing the time required by the user todetermine which updates are important to the user as discussed furtherbelow in association with FIGS. 3-7. FIG. 3 illustrates the softwarecomponents used in adjusting the display of social media updates tovarying degrees of richness based on the level of importance of thesocial media update and/or the current condition of the user'senvironment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for adjusting the displayof social media updates to varying degrees of richness based on thelevel of importance of the social media update and/or the currentcondition of the user's environment. FIG. 5 illustrates a display of asocial media update in a social networking feed with a high degree ofrichness. FIG. 6 illustrates a display of a social media update in asocial networking feed with a low degree of richness. FIG. 7 illustratesa display of a social media update in a social networking feed where thesize and location of particular items within the social media updatevary according to their relative importance.

Referring to FIG. 3, as stated above, FIG. 3 illustrates the softwarecomponents used in adjusting the display of social media updates tovarying degrees of richness based on the level of importance of thesocial media update and/or the current condition of the user'senvironment in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.In one embodiment, these software components are the components ormodules of the program for adjusting the display of a social mediaupdate in a social networking feed to a particular degree of richnessbased on the level of importance of the social media update and/or thecurrent condition of the user's environment, where the program mayreside in application 204 (FIG. 2).

The following provides a brief description of these software components.A more detailed description of these software components is provided inconjunction with FIGS. 4-7, where their functionalities are discussed inconnection with the method for adjusting the display of social mediaupdates (e.g., news updates) to varying degrees of richness based on thelevel of importance of the social media update and/or the currentcondition of the user's environment.

Referring again to FIG. 3, the software components include an importanceidentifier 301 configured to identify and assign a level of importanceto a social media update. Social media updates (or simply “update”), asused herein, refer to new postings or updates from friends and pagesfollowed by the user (including photo tags, event updates, groupmemberships and other activity) that are to be reflected in the socialnetworking feed (referred to as the “news feed”). The importance of thesocial media update can be defined by various aspects, such as topics orpeople of interest to the user, the user's work assignments, topicsrelated to what the user has already read, etc. In one embodiment, thelevel of importance of the social media update is based on attributes ofthe social media update, where the attributes may include the person inthe user's social network, a tag followed by the user, a file created bythe user, comments made to a content item by other people, etc. Forexample, if the update included an update from the user's friend in theuser's social network, then such an update may be deemed to have ahigher importance than an update from an individual outside of theuser's social network. The principles of the present invention are notto be limited to the examples discussed above but to include any aspectsthat may be used to determine an importance of the social media updateto the user in question. In one embodiment, importance identifier 301identifies and assigns one of n levels of importance to each update,where n is a positive integer number. In one embodiment, importanceidentifier 301 assigns a level of importance to the attributesthemselves (e.g., comments made to a content item by other people)within the social media update in addition to assigning a level ofimportance to the social media update itself.

The software components further include an environmental conditionsmonitor 302 configured to determine the current condition of the user'senvironment. For example, the current condition of the user'senvironment may include a volume of other updates received over a timeframe, a current workload of the user, a current time or day, etc. Forinstance, if the user has a high volume of other updates (e.g., over 100other updates), then an important social media update may be displayedwith a high degree of richness so as to distinguish this social mediaupdate from the other updates. However, if the user has a low volume ofother updates (e.g., less than 10 other updates), then a social mediaupdate, whether important or not, may be displayed with a high degree ofrichness since there are not many updates for the user to review todetermine which of the updates are important to the user. In anotherexample, if the user currently has a high workload, then an importantsocial media update may be displayed with a high degree of richness soas to distinguish this social media update from the other updates. Theprinciples of the present invention are not to be limited to theexamples discussed above but to include any condition of the user'senvironment that may be used to assess a degree of richness that thesocial media update should be displayed in the social networking feed.

The software components further include a display control 303 configuredto determine an amount of richness that the social media update shouldbe displayed in the social networking feed based on the level ofimportance of the social media update and/or the current condition ofthe user's environment. “Richness,” as used herein, refers to the levelof detail of the display. Examples of varying the degree of richnessinclude suppressing or promoting certain metadata of the update,changing the visual display (e.g., changing the size, highlightingcertain aspects, displaying text differently from the image, showingvarious forms (e.g., text and image) of the same metadata) and so forth.In one embodiment, display control 303 determines an amount of richnessthat the attributes of the social media update should be displayed inthe social networking feed based on the level of importance assigned tothe attributes and the current condition of the user's environment.

As stated above, a more detail description of the functionality of thesesoftware components is provided below in connection with FIGS. 4-7.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for adjusting the display ofsocial media updates to varying degrees of richness based on the levelof importance of the social media update and/or the current condition ofthe user's environment in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 4, in conjunction with FIGS. 1-3, in step 401, newsfeed display mechanism 104 receives a social media update.

In step 402, importance identifier 301 identifies a level of importanceof the social media update as discussed above. In one embodiment, thelevel of importance of the social media update is based on attributes ofthe social media update, where the attributes may include the person inthe user's social network, a tag followed by the user, a file created bythe user, comments made to a content item by other people, etc. Forexample, if the update included an update from the user's friend in theuser's social network, then such an update may be deemed to have ahigher importance than an update from an individual outside of theuser's social network.

In step 403, importance identifier 301 assigns the identified level ofimportance to the social media update.

In step 404, environmental conditions monitor 302 determines a currentcondition of a user's environment as discussed above. For example, thecurrent condition of the user's environment may include a volume ofother updates received over a time frame, a current workload of theuser, a current time or day, etc.

In step 405, display control 303 displays the social media update in thesocial networking feed with a particular degree of richness at aparticular location based on the identified level of importance of thesocial media update and/or the current condition of the user'senvironment. In this manner, the amount of time required by the user todetermine which updates are important to the user is reduced. Forexample, if the current condition of the user's environment indicates ahigh volume of other updates (e.g., over 100 other updates), then animportant social media update may be displayed in a social networkingfeed with a high degree of richness at a particular location so as todistinguish this social media update from the other updates asillustrated in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 illustrates a display of a social media update 500 in a socialnetworking feed with a high degree of richness in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 5, socialmedia update 500 includes a high level of detail.

If, however, the social media update is an item of low importance, thenthe social media update may be displayed in a social networking feedwith a low degree of richness at a particular location as illustrated inFIG. 6.

FIG. 6 illustrates a display of a social media update 600 in a socialnetworking feed with a low degree of richness in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6, socialmedia update 600 includes a low level of detail.

In one embodiment, display control 303 determines an amount of richnessthat the attributes (e.g., comments made to a content item by otherpeople) of the social media update should be displayed at a particularlocation in the social networking feed based on the level of importanceassigned to the attributes and the current condition of the user'senvironment. Furthermore, since different attributes in the social mediaupdate may be assigned different levels of importance, these attributesmay be displayed with a different degree of richness as illustrated inFIG. 7.

FIG. 7 illustrates a display of a social media update 700 in a socialnetworking feed where the size and location of particular items (e.g.,comments) vary according to their relative importance in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 7,various items (e.g., comments) within the social media update aredisplayed at a particular location with different degrees of richnessbased on the different levels of importance assigned to these items.

Referring to FIG. 4, in conjunction with FIGS. 1-3, in step 406, adetermination is made by display control 303 as to whether the userinteractions with the social networking feed indicate a need to updatethe display of the social media updates (including other social mediaitems currently appearing in the social networking feed in addition tothe social media update displayed in step 405) based on these userinteractions. In this manner, the display of the social media updatescan be dynamically updated in real-time based on the user's interactionswith the social networking feed. For example, if the user comments orclicks a “like” action on a particular news entry, then that news entryas well as other news entries related to that news entry, such as thosesharing a common characteristic, can have its display dynamicallyupdated, such as increasing or decreasing its richness. For instance, ifthe user makes a positive comment on a particular news entry, then thatnews entry as well other related news entries can have their richnessincreased.

If there are no user interactions with the social networking feed toindicate a need to update the display of a social media updates, then,in step 407, display control 303 does not update the display of thesocial media updates.

If, however, there are user interactions with the social networking feedthat indicate a need to update the display of the social media updates,then, in step 408, display control 303 updates the display of the socialmedia updates in real-time based on these user interactions with thesocial networking feed as discussed above.

In some implementations, method 400 may include other and/or additionalsteps that, for clarity, are not depicted. Further, in someimplementations, method 400 may be executed in a different orderpresented and that the order presented in the discussion of FIG. 4 isillustrative. Additionally, in some implementations, certain steps inmethod 400 may be executed in a substantially simultaneous manner or maybe omitted.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

1. A method for adjusting a display of social media updates to varyingdegrees of richness, the method comprising: receiving a social mediaupdate; identifying a level of importance of said social media update;determining a current condition of a user's environment; and displaying,by a processor, said social media update in a social networking feedwith a particular degree of richness at a particular location based onone or more of said identified level of importance of said social mediaupdate and said current condition of said user's environment.
 2. Themethod as recited in claim 1 further comprising: assigning saididentified level of importance to said social media update.
 3. Themethod as recited in claim 1, wherein said level of importance of saidsocial media update is based on attributes of said social media update.4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein said attributes comprisesone or more of the following: a person in a social network of said user,a tag said user is following and a file created by said user.
 5. Themethod as recited in claim 1, wherein said current condition of saiduser's environment comprises one or more of the following: a volume ofother updates received over a timeframe, a current workload of saiduser, a current time and a current date.
 6. The method as recited inclaim 1 further comprising: updating a display of social media updatesin real time based on interactions with said social networking feed bysaid user.
 7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said socialmedia update comprises attributes, wherein said attributes are assigneda level of importance, wherein said attributes are displayed in saidsocial networking feed at a particular location with a particular degreeof richness based on said assigned level of importance to saidattributes and said current condition of said user's environment.
 8. Themethod as recited in claim 7, wherein said attributes comprises commentsmade to a content item by other people.